The Fool, the novice, or as Joanna Powell Colbert would describe it: The Seeker.

I keep thinking of this card again + again.

The place of new beginnings. Or, not quite new, but new again.

Begin again. I’m not a 21 year old seeker this time, fresh-eyed and innocent Maiden. 14 years has passed, and all manner of great life calamities and initiations: Motherhood + Marriage, Post-Natal Depression, Hyperemesis Gravidarum. I wonder if people sometimes wonder why I have to keep referencing PND + HG even though they are now long over. But I can’t point to who I am without pointing at the mountains that carved me as well, both in good ways and in hard ways. They are part of my landscape now.

I’ve been thrown about the river of life, worn and polished some. I’m not who I used to be. Naivety stripped away, I can only hope and pray that this continuous rumbling of life makes me softer, wiser, more compassionate. More able to hold two things in one hand.

Don’t let the years make me brittle and stiff.

Begin again.

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And so I begin again with this. A flash of an idea for a blog post, not particularly brilliant or unique. But good enough anyway.

Something I thought of interest of things that helped me. As always, I hope they help you too.

I’ll keep turning up and sifting and seeing what wishes to emerge. My Creative Being is timid to come out of the cave after spending much of this year firmly closed away from the world. I coax her out with tidbits + small, doable projects. And most of all, love for all she is, and all she has given me.

*

How I Use Essential Oils For Productivity + Focus

So, I thought I was pretty damn productive… but then over the last year, I turned it up by quite a lot.

I started a third company with doTERRA and have built it pretty damn quickly (one of the fastest business builders in history)… on top of running my two other companies… AND starting to homeschool my two kids as well.

I started using essential oils to up not only my own productivity + focus for work, but for my kids when homeschooling… and even when we just needed to get some housework done.

So I thought I’d share with you some of those oils for you for you to add to your toolbelt of wisdom.

But first… why am I addicted/obsessed/talking about essential oils now?

I fell into essential oils last year completely unintentionally… not to mention being resistant + sceptical.

But I’d run out of options. Since having hyperemesis gravidarum 3 years before, my immune system was completely fucked. By last year, it had reached fever pitch (literally) and I’d spent 6 months in and (occasionally) out of bed with recurrent throat and chest infections and fevers. I’d had so many fevers my mattress was stained yellow with sweat (totally disgusting, but it’s the visual that most defines that period). My arms were pinpricked with the marks of blood tests, as doctors struggled to work out why I was so fucking ill: Tuberculosis? Breast cancer? Lung cancer?

It was hard, and it was scary.

In the midst of all that, a friend reached out and told me her story of having a broken immune system + healing it with essential oils.

Now honestly, at that point I was a dried out cynical husk of a being who snidely thought:

Fucking ESSENTIAL OILS? Give me a break, hippies!

It was probably a reflexive action from being told so many times during HG that peppermint essential oil would have fixed me… (or any other suggestion including but not limited to reiki, ginger or dry crackers). HG made me a big ole fan of Western medication because ONDANSETRON GAVE ME LIIIIIIFE… but even Western medicine was failing me in this sick, undiagnosed, feverish mess I was in now.

So I didn’t really have any other options up my sleeve at that point, so even though I was totally resistant, I thought: Yeah, fuck it, why not. It won’t work, but I’ll give it a go.

So I ordered a bottle of OnGuard, doTERRA’s immune supporting blend.

And… what the actual FUCK? It WORKED. Fast. It dramatically reduced the number of illness periods I was having and the length of time of them as well. Within 3 month, my blood tests were back to normal. Over a year on, I actually have a strong immune system instead of always being sick! IT’S A DAMN MIRACLE!

I should say as well – I’d already bought essential oils before… cheap shit from shops, and even expensive ones from a different company. All they did was give me a headache. But the difference between those oils and the new oils I was using was astounding… it was the “doTerra Difference” I’d heard about. RUH ROH! DO I SOUND CULTY NOW? I TOTALLY DOOOOO. Here, would you like a refreshing cup of Kool Aid? The grape-flavoured type is PARTICULARLY TASTY. HA!

Anyways… it was a pretty fast, steep slope of falling in deep, abiding love. I felt like an ancient connection with plant medicine was being reawakened in me. Now I use essential oils every day in so many ways it’s not funny… anxiety, skin care, hair care, mood management, cleaning, healthcare, kids, pain management etc etc etc.

It’s totally a lifestyle. So when it came to finding a new productivity hack, OF COURSE I was going to turn to my oily box of magic.

And I just wanted to say as well:

It’s not just me that has found essential oils helpful for productivity.

So… now I’ve said all that malarky… which specific oils do I use for focus + productivity?

This is the oil I use most regularly.

It is diffusing daily in our house while we are working or homeschooling.

It does as advertised on the box: MOTIVATE.

It’s pretty amazing how uplifting + mojo-making it can be.

I’ve also talked some some oily mates and we all agree that Motivate is muchos needed to do housework. Hahahaha!

It can also be used for:

Promotes feelings of confidence, courage, and belief

Counteracts negative emotions of doubt, pessimism, and cynicism

Diffuse when working on a project at work or school to stay motivated.

In Tune comes in a rollerball ready to apply topically (i.e. onto soles of feet, back of neck or along spine) to help you stack on task when you are trying to study or concentrate.

I also buy empty rollerball bottles from Aromatools and dilute it down even further with fractionated coconut oil to make it go even further because #frugalasfuck.

I have some friends with kids on the spectrum and/or with ADHD who say this blend has been really helpful for them which is just bloody wonderful. Can be bonza for all kids who are studying or going to school.

Handy hint: if they don’t love the smell, they can put it on soles of feet with socks over top, or layer another oil they do like the smell of over the top.

For myself, I tend to apply topically to base of head.

Enhances and sustains a sense of focus

Supports efforts of those who have difficulty paying attention and staying on task

Study-time blend

There’s a reason why rosemary is used on Remembrance Days: it is the oil of memory, and numerous research projects have found it can improve memory retention.

Rosemary was considered sacred by the ancient Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and Hebrew cultures.

Helps reduce nervous tension and occasional fatigue

Diffuse while studying or working to maintain concentration.

Again, if you don’t love the smell, apply topically with another oil layered over top, or diffuse with other oils (like lavender or lemon).

So, I definitely wasn’t a supplements lover… partly due to not wanting to just be making expensive pee and partly because I have an overactive gag reflex thanks to ole mate hyperemesis gravidarum. But as I learned more about doTERRA I discovered something fascinating: one of their most popular products is their Life Long Vitality supplements. And other oily mates RAVED about it in terms of what it did for their energy levels, brain fog and general liveliness. So I thought I’d trial it and see if it actually DID anything.

Spoiler alert: it did. They made a significant improvement to my energy levels… so much so that I didn’t feel like I needed a 3pm nap anymore… AND I’ve been able to run with all the homeschooling wildness in a way that I don’t think I would have been able to before.

So they get a big ole thumbs up from me!

How to order the essential oils

doTERRA doesn’t sell in stores… instead they want you to buy through someone you know so you can be supported to learn more about how to use essential oils in every area of your life.

I’m a delighted doTERRA Wellness Advocate now… because I couldn’t NOT. I couldn’t not start sharing about these oils + all the miraculous ways they’ve helped me.